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NAJIT Committees

As a member-driven organization, NAJIT is only as strong as the involvement of its members. Serving on a committee will allow you to know more about the life of our Association and, at the same time, NAJIT will greatly benefit from your insights and contributions.

Committee work is usually carried out under the guidance of the Chair (or co-Chairs), who in some cases is a member of the Board of Directors. Communication will be via email and periodic conference calls. The time commitment will vary based on the specific projects and on the time of the year. For example, the Conference Committee will be busiest from October to January. If you have any questions about the time commitment for serving on any committee, please contact the committee chair.

The following committees have been created to help in the advancement of the association and the translation and interpretation professions. Ad Hoc committees are created as needed by the board of directors, and all others are permanent committees named in the Bylaws.

Position Papers

Training & Education

Committee Descriptions

Advocacy

The Advocacy Committee focuses on policies that affect the profession, including access to language services for individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The committee helps monitor and analyze public policies, government initiatives, and press coverage of matters relevant to the legal interpretation and translation professions. The committee also advises the board of directors on responses to issues and requests for comment by government agencies. The advocacy committee educates the general public regarding Title VI LEP policies and works in conjunction with the Bench & Bar committee in support of their educational efforts in that same area. A sub-committee of the Advocacy committee is the Position Paper committee.

Bench & Bar (ad hoc committee)

The Bench and Bar Committee has a particular interest in educating judges, attorneys, and other legal professionals on the importance of using certified/qualified interpreters in the judiciary. This committee has already completed a training module for judges and lawyers, including infographics that are easily distributed in person and online with the purpose of improving the attorney-client interaction that requires the use of an interpreter.

Bylaws & Governance

The Bylaws and Governance Committee reviews NAJIT’s bylaws and recommends changes to the board of directors as appropriate. It also proposes policies and procedures for strengthening NAJIT governance and consults with the Nominations Committee to ensure the best possible practices for NAJIT elections.

Conference

The Conference Committee plans, schedules, and organizes NAJIT’s annual conference in close coordination with NAJIT’s Executive Director, Administrator, and Board of Directors, including recruiting and selecting speakers, exhibitors, advertisers, and sponsors. The committee collaborates with NAJIT’s Administrator and Treasurer to prepare the conference budget and P&L projections for Board approval. Additional duties include brainstorming entertainment activities, coordinating with local T&I groups, and providing outreach to colleagues and members of the legal community. The committee also coordinates volunteers who assist NAJIT staff members at the conference.

Elections (ad hoc committee)

The Elections Committee works in conjunction with the Nominations Committee to ensure the annual election of board members is held within the parameters of NAJIT’s bylaws, and announces election results during the annual meeting.

Immigration Interpreting (ad hoc committee)

The Immigration Interpreting Committee contributes to strengthening NAJIT’s voice in policy related to interpreting and translation in immigration-related settings. The committee also has an interest in training interpreters and translators who provide services in this field.

Languages of Limited Diffusion (ad hoc committee)

The Languages of Limited Diffusion Committee focuses on providing support and guidance for interpreters who speak African languages or indigenous languages of the Americas, including training for interpreters and court administration and staff on the identification of regional variants of various African languages or indigenous languages of the Americas. The committee is working to set forth best practices in the use of interpreters on-site, as compared to remotely by phone or video, and to educate the membership and public as to the languages of limited diffusion that are common to their region and how to identify the specific languages. They will also prepare position papers as requested by the Board of Directors, in conjunction with the Advocacy Committee.

Membership

The Membership Committee works to increase awareness of NAJIT among a wide array of stakeholders by working on initiatives to increase and retain membership; ascertains that NAJIT membership materials are available at translation and interpreting events; staffs the NAJIT table at major conferences; and helps develop a database of potential members.

Nominations

The Nominations Committee assures member awareness of and involvement in NAJIT’s electoral process, by:

Connecting with individual members who show potential for future board service and encouraging them to consider candidacy.

Reviewing all nominations received during the nominations process, preparing a slate of candidates for presentation to the membership, striving whenever possible to offer at least two candidates for each open position, and giving the NAJIT Board sufficient advance notice so that steps can be taken to increase the slate if too few candidates have been identified.

Collecting statements by candidates in a timely fashion so they can be mailed to the membership in due time for elections.

Proteus (ad hoc committee)

The Proteus newsletter is one of the major benefits to NAJIT members. The work of the Proteus Committee is to:

Prepare and publish Proteus, working closely with the Editor.

Help identify and secure advertisers and sponsors.

Maintain a list of key individuals in the interpreting and translating professions, the judiciary, the legal profession, and allied professions to receive a complimentary subscription.

Prepare individual articles and an index from each issue for publication on the NAJIT website.

Social Media (ad hoc committee)

The Social Media Committee is the authoritative source about language access issues related to all types of interpreting for language professionals, other stakeholders, and the general public. The committee keeps NAJIT and its constituency abreast of current events and issues that impact the profession, proactively seeks venues to promote information about certification and how to best to work with interpreters, and articulates the benefits of joining NAJIT as a member or sponsor including video production for NAJIT’s YouTube channel. Social media committee members may represent NAJIT at industry conferences and events, and contribute research, editorials, blogs, social media posts, and other forms of communications as appropriate. The Social Media Committee also assists other committees in sharing their events and publications on all of NAJIT’s social media platforms and other public relations outlets.

Training & Education (ad hoc committee)

The Education and Training Committee develops a range of education and training opportunities for members (and non-members), including webinars and workshops on topics such as translation, transcription, note-taking, among others. An additional goal for the 2018-2019 year is to establish criteria for continuing education requirements for all legal interpreters and define the requirements for NAJIT CEUs.

The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators promotes the highest professional standards in interpreting and translating.